Voip on the Rocks? More News of the Digital Bizarre

More from our Bizarre Survey Department: Everyone knows what VOIP is by now right? Voice Over Internet Protocol telephony is the hottest thing in the communications world, and tech policy geeks can talk about it–as well as over it–all night. But, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive, most Americans have no clue what it is. The Verizon-commissioned survey, conducted in May but just released recently, found 87 percent of respondents could not say what VOIP was. Of those who took a guess, 20 percent said it was a hybrid European car. Another 10 percent thought it was perhaps a low-carb vodka.

Is this bad news for VOIP providers? Not really. People don’t really care what their phone service is called, they just want to be able to talk on the phone without spending a lot of money. It is techies and policy geeks who should take heed–as excited as we may get over all this new stuff, most people don’t know what the heck we are talking about. If only they read the Tech Liberation Front more often…

James Gattuso / James Gattuso is a Senior Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy in the Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation. Gattuso also leads the Enterprise and Free Markets Initiative at Heritage, with responsiblity for a range of regulatory and market issues. Prior to joining Heritage, he served as Vice President for Policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and also as Vice President for Policy Development with Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). From 1990 to 1993, he was Deputy Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy at the Federal Communications Commission. From May 1991 to June 1992, he was detailed from the FCC to the office of Vice President Dan Quayle, where he served as Associate Director of the President's Council on Competitiveness. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife Dana, 8 year-old son, Peter (whom he relies upon to operate his VCR), and his four year-old daughter Lindsey (who does the DVD player.) He has no known hobbies, but is not nearly as boring as he seems.